Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Photo: HUSSEIN MALLA

Image 1of/1

Caption

Close

Image 1 of 1

Supporters of slain former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri ride through the streets of Beirut, Lebanon Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2005. Hariri was killed in a massive bomb blast Monday raised fears that the country might revert to the political violence of the 1975-90 civil war. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla) Ran on: 02-16-2005
Supporters of Rafik Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister killed in a huge bomb blast, pay their respects on Beirut's streets. less

Supporters of slain former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri ride through the streets of Beirut, Lebanon Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2005. Hariri was killed in a massive bomb blast Monday raised fears that the country ... more

2005-02-16 04:00:00 PDT Beirut -- Senior Lebanese officials warned Tuesday that the country was entering a volatile period a day after the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, pointedly evoking the first year of Lebanon's long civil war and urging calm among opposition leaders and thousands of citizens who hold the government responsible for Hariri's death.

Hours later, the U.S. government announced that Margaret Scobey, the U.S. ambassador to Syria, was being recalled to Washington for consultations. The decision underscored the rising tensions between the United States and Syria, whose government many Lebanese opposition leaders blame for Hariri's killing.

Elite runners start the first wave of Bay to Breakers 2018San Francisco Chronicle

Coyote trots around Golden Gate parkTed Andersen, SFGATE

The Lebanese government placed the army on high alert Tuesday, and soldiers could be seen throughout the capital on the first of three days of mourning. Shops and schools were shuttered, and Beirut's empty avenues echoed with the sound of muezzins reading Quranic verses from the minarets of mosques.

Hundreds of Lebanese filed through Hariri's downtown mansion to pay tearful respects to the former prime minister, who was killed along with 14 others Monday when his motorcade was rocked by an enormous explosion along Beirut's waterfront.

Several Cabinet ministers called for unity in the face of what one called a campaign to destabilize Lebanon. Recalling the start of the 1975-90 civil war, Interior Minister Suleiman Franjieh said, "We're now in 1975. All we are missing is someone to start the shooting."

Related Stories

Hariri, a self-made billionaire who entered Lebanon's fractious political scene in the midst of the civil war, had emerged in recent weeks as an important opponent of Syria's presence here -- a situation that is of increasing concern to the international community. The U.N. Security Council in September called on Syria to withdraw its estimated 15,000 troops from Lebanon and to disarm Hezbollah, the armed Shiite Muslim political movement it supports in the south.

The U.N. resolution passed a day before Lebanon's parliament, succumbing to Syrian pressure, extended the term of Syria's hand-picked president, Emile Lahoud.

Hariri resigned as prime minister in October but only recently had begun identifying himself openly with the opposition bloc now demanding Syria's complete withdrawal from Lebanon.

His assassination came as the country prepares for parliamentary elections, scheduled to begin as early as April, that could usher in a government more opposed to Syria's presence than the one in power. Hariri was believed to have been planning a new bid to be prime minister with the support of usually rival sectarian parties united against Syria. Lebanese officials said Tuesday those elections would proceed as scheduled.

Because of the severity of the crime -- the most serious political assassination in Lebanon since its civil war ended -- opposition leaders have called for an international investigation to determine who is responsible. But Lebanese officials effectively ruled that out Tuesday, calling the issue a matter of national sovereignty.

"An international investigation is something that as a state we cannot accept," Franjieh said. The government might accept help from countries "not involved in Lebanon's conflict," he said. "But for some sides to say they don't trust the state to manage the investigation is unacceptable."

So far, officials said, the investigation suggests that the explosion, which sheared off the facades of several buildings and shattered glass within a quarter-mile radius, was most likely the result of a suicide car bomb that rammed Hariri's heavily protected motorcade. Hariri traveled in a convoy equipped with jamming devices designed to thwart remote-detonated bombs, and Lebanese knew when the former prime minister was in their neighborhood because their cell-phone service went dead.

Franjieh said DNA testing was being performed on some of the remains pulled from the wreckage, which army and police trucks began clearing up Tuesday at the busy curve on Beirut's Corniche.

Hariri is to be buried today in an enormous mosque in downtown Beirut. It sits in the heart of the once war-shattered district that Hariri helped rebuild into a collection of boutiques, cafes and office buildings. The mosque itself, still under construction, was financed in large part by Hariri's charitable foundation.